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A father who shot dead a man on the doorstep on his home following a dispute between their children then tried to blame his 14-year-old son for the killing, a court has heard.

Matthew Moseley, 50, allegedly "sought to manipulate" his son, Thomas, into saying he was responsible for the shooting in Oswaldtwistle, near Accrington, Lancashire.

Preston Crown Court heard how the victim, Lee Holt, 32, had visited the address last October as part of an ongoing row between his partner's son, also aged 14, and Thomas.

The prosecution claims Moseley senior opened the front door and fired a Beretta semi-automatic shotgun once at Mr Holt, who later died in hospital from a single wound to the chest.

The defendant then allegedly handed the weapon to his son who was inside the house and suggested he take responsibility for the killing.

Opening the case, Robert O'Sullivan QC said: "The prosecution say from that point onwards Matthew Moseley has falsely blamed his son Thomas for the shooting.

"It is the prosecution case that Matthew Moseley, from the outset, has sought to manipulate his son into accepting responsibility for the shooting and the death of Lee Holt.

"Thomas initially did just that, out of what you may think was loyalty and love for his father.

"Indeed he was arrested and interviewed by police on suspicion of the murder of Lee Holt,

before the truth came out."

Lee Holt, who died in hospital from a single wound to the chestCredit:
Lancashire Constabulary

The court heard Mr Holt, his partner Kate Phelan, her 14-year-old son Wesley Metcalfe and a friend of the teenager went in a taxi to to the Moseley family home.

Thomas had been in dispute with Wesley since May 2016 and a row flared up on social media between the pair earlier on October 25 with a suggestion they meet for a fight, the jury was told.

The messages were shown to Ms Phelan and Mr Holt, who had both been drinking at a funeral, and they sent messages themselves to Thomas.

Mr O'Sullivan said Ms Phelan and Mr Holt had become "angry and agitated" before they set off for the Moseley home.

Both were seen shouting outside the property and banging the outside windows when they arrived, he said.

Thomas Moseley said he then saw his father bending down on one knee, taking a shotgun from a gun cabinet next to the porch and loading it with three cartridges.

He asked his father what he was doing and he was told by his father to call the police, the court heard.

Mr O'Sullivan said Thomas Moseley dialled 999 from a cordless phone and a sound was heard about 10 seconds into the call, which the prosecution suggested was the firing of the gun.

He said: "It is inherently unlikely, is it not, that Thomas can put the receiver down, hand it to someone, pick up the gun and fire it on the doorstep in all that time."

The jury heard that Thomas Moseley brought the gun back inside the house after it was allegedly handed to him by his father, who then told him in the hallway: "Tell them you have done it because you can't get done for it."

When police arrived, Thomas Moseley told them he had shot Mr Holt and he was arrested.

On October 27 both father and son were taken to local magistrates in the back of a police van as detectives applied for further time to question them, the court heard.

A covert bug was placed in the vehicle, said Mr O'Sullivan, and it appeared that the defendant frequently reduced his voice to a whisper in conversation with his son.

The prosecutor said: "He can be heard telling Thomas that he is a minor and cannot go to jail and if Matthew Moseley did not get out they would come for his mother and younger siblings.

"He is there putting emotional pressure on his son to take the blame. He went on to say to Thomas 'self-defence for you, you didn't know what you were doing. Me, different ball game'."

Matthew Moseley was subsequently charged with murder and was remanded in custody at HMP Preston, the jury heard.

In prison the defendant made a number of phone calls which were recorded, said the prosecutor.

On February 2 in a phone call from prison the defendant was heard to say to his son: "They are going for life. You do realise that? They did explain that to you? I will never see you again. I will never, ever get out.

"That's what they are going for which means I will never see you again. Because they coerced you into changing your statement."